The Bet
by InevitableConfusion
Summary: He makes her an offer she can't refuse. EdWin.


Hey! Not much to say, but here's a oneshot! I hope you enjoy it :)

Rated **T**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FMA. It sucks. A lot.

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><p><em>The Bet.<em>

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><p>Edward Elric and his girlfriend Winry Rockbell were arguing. Again.<p>

Big _freaking_ surprise.

The two young adults, despite having matured in several ways throughout the years, still fought like crazy. It shocked Alphonse that they had remained together for all this time. It wasn't that Al was upset about it or anything- quite the contrary, actually, because he could easily see how happy his brother and his friend made each other when they weren't arguing. He was just baffled.

At first, it was confusing. Right after the two agreed to start dating, their fights seemed to increase in number and escalate in intensity. But as he continued to watch them, he started to find their little spats endearing -it was their way of showing they cared for each other, he realized. A strange little courting ritual: they fight, they sulk around and secretly pine for each other, then they make up. Rinse and repeat.

He knew his brother was just _awful_ with expressing emotions, so he decided to leave them be. But very quickly, he started to find it annoying that they constantly bickered whenever they came to visit. Incredibly annoying, actually. Sometimes it got to the point where they couldn't have a decent conversation for months on end.

It seemed that they were always yelling at each other over _something_, even if that something was completely insignificant. It was almost as if they were arguing just for the sake of it.

And that was exactly what was happening.

The blonde couple started fighting early in the day over _making the bed_, of all things. (Yes, they shared an apartment in town, and thus shared a bed. Al would listen when they frantically claimed that nothing had happened between them, but he still found it incredibly difficult to actually believe what they said.) When their argument started jumping from topic to topic, he concluded that it wasn't going to end soon, and thus swiftly left the house alongside Granny with the excuse of getting groceries.

Several hours later, they had yet to return. Which was smart, on their part.

"Oh yeah?" Winry challenged, standing in the living room and glaring at the man across from her.

"Yeah!" Edward responded. Both were seething, and they were literally so close that their noses touched. They stood that way for several moments, waiting to see what the other would say, but started calming down a bit when nothing came up.

Winry's jaw, which was set tightly in determination, began to slacken as her eyes flitted all around her boyfriend's handsome face; notably, and more than once, to his lips. Unfortunately for her, he noticed this and decided to subtly and quickly re-wet his lips, just to see her reaction.

She blushed, of course.

And he smirked, of course.

"Why, Winry," he said, unable to resist teasing her, "it seems that you've gone red."

Her eyed snapped back to his just before she looked away in a huff, crossing her arms as the heat on her cheeks increased. "Tch. You talk as if I'm the only one who ever gets embarrassed."

"Well, it's not like _I_ do."

Liar.

"Puh-_lease_," she turned back to him, jabbing a finger in his chest accusingly, "Do you even _remember_ that day at the train station all those years ago? Your face got so red, I thought you were gonna explode!"

Edward fought down his embarrassment as he thought back to that day. To blush now would only prove her point. Instead, his eyes looked at her intensely. "Yeah, well, if you're so sure you can make me flustered, let's make a bet."

His words piqued her interest, and a spark appeared in her eyes. "I'm listening," she said, much calmer than before.

His expression turned smug, secretly trying to egg her on. He had an idea he wanted to try, and all he needed was for her to agree to the bet. Which wouldn't be hard to get her to do- she could never back down from a challenge.

He bent down, leaning close to her face, a small grin playing across his lips. "I'll bet you can't make me blush within one minute."

Her grin suddenly matched his. _Piece of cake._ "Ground rules?"

"Time limit is one minute, as previously stated. No indecent exposure. Anything to add?"

"Nothing extremely pervy."

"So somewhat pervy is acceptable?"

"Shut up. Also, no refusing my advances or trying to leave, and no interrupting me" she finished, pouting cutely by the end.

He hid his smile, pretending to ponder her rules for a moment before nodding his head in agreement. "Fair enough." _This will be so easy_.

"If I win?"

"I will agree to one request -whatever you choose. No questions asked, no complaining."

_Sounds good._ "And if I lose?"

He grinned again and whispered huskily in her ear, "Then it's my turn."

He leaned back just in time to see a very light pink dusting her pretty face, but as soon as it was there, it was gone again.

He stuck out a hand and she met it with a firm grip of her own, shaking it once.

_**There is no way I'll lose.**_

- O - O - O -

They both sat on the couch, indifferent on the outside, but very anxious on the inside. Winry glanced up at Edward, who was calmly watching his pocket watch, waiting for the seconds hand to pass the twelve. He seemed awfully relaxed about this, and although she was nervous, she was determined to wipe his smug expression clean off his face.

Finally, he met her gaze, a bemused twinkling in his eyes, and nodded at her. She wiped her sweaty palms on her thighs and gulped, trying to get her heart out of her throat and back into her chest where it belonged. Then she opened her mouth.

And started talking.

Ed sighed. Talking... _really? _That was the best she could do? Reminding him of embarrassing stories? How anti-climactic. He leaned back into the corner of the couch, laying one arm on the armrest and the other on the back of the couch. He watched her quietly, not focusing on what she was saying, just simply observing.

Winry was beautiful. Sexy, even. She was extremely smart and a talented engineer; she was funny, kind, stubborn as all get out, and was as tough as nails sometimes, yet soft and fragile at other times. Believe it or not, they even had a lot of things in common. When she was driven to do something and that strong, determined gleam reached her eyes, she never let anything stand in her way, no matter what it was -and he found that sexy as hell. She was his best friend, his love, his _life_. She could make him fall in love a thousand times over without even knowing it; without even _trying_.

_Maybe that's why I'm so confused_. He held back a frown. She had all of this at her disposal, and yet she didn't use any of it.

She was just _talki_- wait.

He gulped, eyes wide.

It was amazing how fast she changed tactics.

"Edward," she cooed, crawling over his outstretched legs and closer to him, all the while giving him a nice view of her cleavage. Something red and lacey peeked out from under her shirt and he quickly averted his eyes to the pocket watch in his hand, trying to distract himself.

_Twenty seconds._

He shivered when she trailed a hand up his arm. She sat down on his lap, still facing him, and he rested a hand on her waist in response. She touched her hands gently to his chest and slowly moved them up to his collar, where she unbuttoned the top two buttons. Her soft fingers found the bare skin there and she gently traced his collar bone and the muscles in his neck.

She turned her blue doe eyes up to him, hoping to catch at least a glimpse of red or pink, but he only raised an eyebrow in turn, seemingly unfazed by all of this.

If only she knew that on the inside, he was going crazy. _Ten seconds_, he told himself.

The corners of his lips twitched, catching her attention. She was counting down the seconds as well, and knew that she didn't have much time left. She lifted a hand to his face, trailing her index finger along his eyebrow, past his temple, and trailing down his hairline. Her thumb brushed softly across his lips, hesitating a bit. He kissed her thumb, eyes still trained on her face.

_Five seconds_.

Now or never. It was her last chance.

_Four._

She took a deep breath and brought her hand down to his shoulder.

_Three._

Her other hand pulled his ponytail out and weaved into his now loose hair.

_Two._

She sat up on her knees so that she was situated above him.

_One._

She tilted his head up and leaned down.

_Zero_.

- O - O - O -

She stopped just a breath away.

She was out of time. She had lost.

Disappointed, she sat back down on his lap with a sigh and untangled her hand from his hair, dropping her hands down to rest comfortably on his chest. She really did want to kiss him at the moment, but she was fair -time was up, and her turn was over.

Edward released the breath he didn't know he'd been holding and panted a bit. His heart was beating erratically and sweat was beading across his forehead. It had taken everything in his power to keep the heat from reaching his face earlier, and now he just tried to focus on calming down.

He reached forward and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, pulling her to him and burying his face in her neck. She automatically wrapped her arms around him as well, combing her fingers lightly through his hair.

"Ed," she said quietly, "it's your turn."

He exhaled, breath fanning across her collar, and chuckled a bit. "God, Win," he said, his voice husky and sounding very out of breath, "Give me a little time to recover, will ya?"

She couldn't help but smile. Even though she lost, it was nice to know that she had such an effect on him.

They sat like that for a couple minutes before he finally took a deep, calming breath and sat back. He flashed her a genuine, affectionate smile that made her heart flutter. But before she could return it, he was looking at his watch again.

He didn't have to wait very long.

He glanced up at her, not wasting any time. "Lay down."

"Wha-"

"No interrupting. Same rules apply. Just lay down."

She complied obediently, and before she knew it, he was leaning over her on the couch, knees on either side of her legs and hands by her head. He had trapped her.

The sunset seeped through the windows and soaked into the room, bouncing off his golden hair and making him seem ethereal. Some of his long hair spilled over his shoulders, shadowing his face, and yet his golden eyes somehow caught the light, burning an intense hole into her own eyes. She felt extremely vulnerable, like he was looking right through her, but in his gaze was not something unkind. Instead, there was affection -affection beyond words, deep and meaningful. His gaze left her with an overwhelming desire to give in, to surrender to him. She trusted him, more than she trusted even herself.

And so, she smiled.

He silently dipped his head and pressed his lips against her collar bone. He felt her gasp but did not hear her, and he kissed her collar again. Her hands curled as he continued with his kisses, one gripping the side of the cushion she was laying on, and the other grabbing the loose fabric of his shirt. Her breathing picked up in pace when he moved his lips to her shoulder. It was faster, shakier.

The electricity around them made it very hard for her to breathe properly.

A moan escaped from her throat when he pressed a heated kiss to her neck. Both of them knew that her neck was very sensitive. A burning fire pooled deep in her abdomen. He trailed his lips up the side of her neck and across her jaw, one hand caressing her side lightly.

Ed pressed a kiss to the side of her mouth. Her stomach jumped. Her toes curled.

He bent down and was so close, _so close_.

And then he stopped.

He brought his hand up to cup her face gently and his thumb brushed over her cheek as he looked thoughtfully at her through half-lidded eyes. "Win," he whispered, his breath fanning over her face, "You're blushing."

Her face was burning, but she didn't care. Al and Granny could walk in and see them, but she didn't care. He was blushing as well, but she didn't care. _I don't care, I don't care, I don't care._

She didn't want him to pull away. It was a stupid bet. It was a stupid argument. It was all just stupid, and she didn't care about it anymore. A deep emotion filled her eyes as she covered his hand with her own shaking one. She spoke with a quiet, shaky voice.

"I don't care, Ed."

She barely managed to choke those words out before he brought his mouth to hers.

_End._

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><p>HAHA YES, I FINALLY WROTE IT DOWN! WOOT!<p>

Man, it's amazing how much the details change when transferring them from my mind to the paper.

Three side-notes:

1) My interest in reading novels has been re-sparked, so that's why it's been a while. Have some free time? Go read Divergent by Veronica Roth and Legend by Marie Lu. Amazing.

2) I was originally gonna leave this story without a full-on kiss or end it on a funny note, but at the last minute, I decided that would be mean or an unfitting ending.

3) Normally, I use breaks (this: - O - O - O -) to signify time passing in the story, but this time I just needed a way to break the story up a bit so it didn't all run together.

Hope you enjoyed! If you did, please review! Anonymous reviews and constructive criticism welcomed.

~Vee


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